Storytelling Portfolio
An abandoned building, formerly a prison gymnasium, is used for storage
at the Lorton Reformatory Prison.
Cords hang in noose shapes inside an abandoned building across from the
former gymnasium at Lorton Reformatory Prison.
Former inmate housing at Lorton Reformatory Prison is renovated as a museum space for the former prison and related art.
Virginia's Execution Devices:
Where Are They Now?
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Virginia, once the most prolific death penalty state, keeps its electric chair and former execution materials in museum storage, unavailable to the public. In early 2022, then-Governor Northam donated the materials to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond, Virginia.
Northam said, “The Commonwealth’s history of using capital punishment is an important part of history, and the museum is focused on telling Virginia’s full and true story for future generations.”
According to Andrew Talkov, the VMHC Senior Director of Curatorial Affairs, the museum has scheduled exhibits through 2027 but will not include the execution materials. "Any display would be done in such a way as to provide historical context for these objects, but in a manner sensitive to the individuals and families whose lives have been deeply affected as part of that history,” he said. “We currently have no immediate plans to display these items.”
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The U.S. has offered five methods of execution: hanging, electrocution, lethal gas, firing squad, and lethal injection. Since gallows were dismantled and many gurneys disappeared, electric chairs and gas chambers are the primary artifacts of capital punishment.
At least 25 states have retired artifacts. Roughly 50% display them, whereas the other 50% hold them in storage or are otherwise inaccessible.
Why some and not others?
Time: The 13 displaying states retired their materials between 1965 and 2020, and the 12 storing states retired theirs between 1972 and 2021.
Location: Almost 50% of the displaying states are south of the Mason-Dixon line compared to 16.7% of their counterparts.
What about – as Talkov said – context and sensitivity?
It is a community’s duty to teach history in its entirety – dark moments included, discomfort overcome. George Santanaya said famously in 1905, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
A community also must honor its history and historical persons with respect.
After playing as the Washington Redskins for 83 NFL seasons, the D.C. team changed its name to the Washington Commanders in 2022. A de facto Virginia team, the Commanders made the change to “honor the past [and] embrace the future,” they said on Twitter in 2021.
George Mason University, an independent Virginia university since 1972, erected a memorial in 2022 honoring the people enslaved by Mason. Instead of renaming the institution, GMU chose to educate its students and visitors with the complete past of its namesake.
In Virginia, the U.S., and the world, communities are telling larger scopes of their histories. Genocides, famines, rapes, wars, and slavery are taught more now than ever – despite discomfort and sensitivity.
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Throughout its history, Virginia has executed 1,390 people, the most of any state. Virginia has also executed the most women, the most enslaved people, and the youngest children.
In the 20th century, 78.5% of Virginians executed for murder were Black. Between 1900 and 1977, Virginia put 73 people to death for non-homicidal convictions of rape, attempted rape, or robbery; all 73 defendants were Black.
And when the death penalty was abolished in 2021, only two people were on death row, both Black.
Between 1976 and 2017, Virginia executed the highest percentage of death row prisoners of any state: 73%. The national average was 16%.
In Virginia, the average time between conviction and execution was less than eight years – since 1999, less than five – by far the lowest in the country. The shorter time frame limited defendants’ ability to gather evidence or further plead their innocence.
After 1976 – the beginning of the modern era of capital punishment – the state followed strict procedural rules in court. One rule stated that if a defendant’s lawyer missed a filing deadline, they could be denied judicial review. Consequently, poorer defendants who couldn’t afford experienced attorneys were more likely to be sentenced to death.
Virginia has a long discriminatory and disfigured history with capital punishment. Its retired electric chair, injection gurney, and other devices represent that past. Right now, they sit in museum storage.
Will the Virginia Museum of History and Culture eventually exhibit these materials with their unfiltered history? Or will they follow the lead of states like Vermont, whose electric chair has been concealed since 1972?
Weston Cate, the former Vermont Historical Society director, said in 1975: “I can assure you that the Vermont Historical Society has no intention whatsoever of placing the chair on public display in our museum. We intend to place it in our storage quarters.”
And there it still sits.
Is this the future of Virginia’s execution materials?
Should it be?
April 9, 2023
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Karina Delgado listens to capital punishment crime statistics during an interview on April 5, 2023.
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Thomas "Mac" Mackenzie listens to capital punishment cost analyses
during an interview on April 3, 2023.
Gender and Capital Crime
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In four interviews, four people said they believe capital punishment is necessary for certain crimes. When asked what crimes they think warrant the death penalty, the men and women answered differently.
The men said sexual crimes:
Thomas “Mac” Mackenzie: “I’d say someone who was unrepentant about rape or molestation or children or just things that you can’t exist in society if you do those things.”
Brandon Wood: “Things like pedophilia, just the big ones, you know.”
The women said abuse and murder:
Karina Delgado: “Possibly like a high number count of murders, because overall we shouldn’t even kill each other.”
Pat Clark: “I just think that anything probably like cruelty to children, to babies. You know, like, malicious or, you know, like chopping up the bodies. Just really hard stuff like that.”
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In a 2008 5-4 Supreme Court decision, imposing the death penalty for the rape of a child – without the child’s death – was deemed unconstitutional. The last person put to death in the United States for non-homicidal rape was Ronald Wolfe in 1964. He was executed in Missouri’s gas chamber for luring an 8-year-old girl away from a carnival and raping her.
Some countries that retain capital punishment for rape – whether for a child or adult – are India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. According to the World Population Review, these five countries have an average Gender Equality Index of 61.64 and would be 14th-to-last on their list of 165 countries. These statistics suggest the countries are male-dominated and male-led. In 2019, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said that rapists should be chemically castrated or publicly executed. He is a man.
In the United States, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, only 2.5% of sexual assault perpetrators are convicted.
Nearly 99% of rapists are male.
One-third of women currently on death row were convicted of killing their own children. An additional 14.5% were sentenced to death for killing someone else’s child.
Combined, nearly half were convicted of killing minors. Of the 23 men executed over the last year, roughly one-fourth were convicted of the same crime.
Four women were charged with torturing their children before the murders. Two starved their daughters to death. Eight victims were children younger than three years old, including four infants.
The youngest victim of the executed men was three years old, and none of the men were charged with torture.
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The interviewees explained the crimes that they think warrant the death penalty. For the men, those were pedophilia and sexual assault; for the women, multiple homicide and child homicide.
Would women agree that rape warrants execution? Women are the primary victims – according to RAINN, 82% of all juvenile victims are female, as are 90% of adult victims.
Would men agree that child murder warrants execution? When women kill their children, the fathers – the men – are left to grieve.
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This research suggests people are more critical of crimes their genders more often commit.
Ask yourself: Are you, too? Why?
April 6, 2023
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The former Lorton Reformatory Prison gymnasium begins to fall into disrepair.
A mural made by former Lorton Reformatory prisoners begins to fade.
It shows seven faces and two cartoon-like characters.
At the top, it reads "The idea that, We may live forever, is lost if we don't act upon it."
In the prisoners' mural, a man holds a young child in his arms.
The child seems to cry and reach below.
April 2, 2023
A sign stands above a walkway in the former maximum-security
Lorton Reformatory Prison.
A barred door leans open in the former maximum-security Lorton Reformatory Prison.
'I'm Ready, Warden'
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Twenty-four people have been executed in America since this time last year. Their names were
Arthur
Gary
Donald
John
Wesley
Scott
Robert
Amber
Thomas
Kevin
Richard
Stephen
Murray
Tracy
Benjamin
John
James
Kosoul
Joe
Frank
Clarence
Carman
and Carl.
When asked, all but three gave final statements: Robert, Kevin, and Joe.
In their last words, two proclaimed their innocence: Arthur and Clarence.
Two condemned their governor and state: Arthur, in Texas, and Donald, in Florida.
And one, who insisted his innocence for 30 years, said only: “It's all been said. Let it be done. Don't cry for me – don't be sad.” : Murray.
They were exceptions. Among the convicts’ final statements, the most common phrases were
Thank you
I love you
I'm sorry
I hope this brings you closure
I'm ready
and prayer to God or Allah.
James said, "Governor Stitt, I don't blame you and I forgive you."
Wesley said, “To my kids, stand tall and continue to make me proud. Don't worry about me, I'm going to be okay.”
Tracy said, “I want to thank [my wife]. I don’t want to leave you, baby. See you when you get there.”
Kosoul’s last words were “Mom, I love you.”
The 24 executed persons were convicted of robbery and rape and killing police officers, elderly couples, strangers, ex-girlfriends and -wives, mothers, daughters, teenagers, and children. They were on death row for 13-40 years, for an average of 21 years. During these decades, they were confined to solitary cells with little to no natural light and human interaction for 22-24 hours per day.
When the people emerged and lay strapped to gurneys, awaiting their deaths by lethal injection, these are the statements they made.
Gary said to his son, “I always loved you and I told you I will never say goodbye, but this is goodbye.”
Thomas said, “For the past 20 years, I've tried to do a good deed every single day to make up for the life I took from this world.”
Richard said of his victim, “Today is for Adam. Justice for Adam.”
Between March 2022 and 2023, the majority of final statements were ones of love and peace. Given by people sentenced to capital punishment – the worst penalty possible by the law.
Anger and bitterness did not reign over their last moments. Sadness or grief, either.
Many of them accepted their deaths. Found retribution and redemption in them. And with a flourish of grace and choice, said finally, I’m ready, Warden.
Now ask yourself:
Do you think the people regretted their crimes?
Do you think their prayers were genuine?
What do you think brought them peace and acceptance?
How do you think they felt?
How do you think their statements made the victims’ families feel?
How do you think you would feel, in their stead? What would you say?
How do you think you would feel if you were the victim’s family, hearing the final statements they gave?
How do you feel after reading this article?
March 31, 2023
A door formerly used for solitary confinement is locked at the Lorton Reformatory Prison.
An abandoned stairwell is locked in an abandoned building at the
Lorton Reformatory Prison.
Anonymity of the Executioner
"For he to whom a watcher's doom
Is given as his task,
Must set a lock upon his lips,
And make his face a mask."
Oscar Wilde, "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"
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Executioners have sought – and been granted – anonymity from the public for centuries. Since the mid-20th century, U.S. executioners have even been offered anonymity from themselves. Several states have organized executions with more than one executioner so that none can know who truly committed the act.
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In many countries throughout history, executioners were considered damned and were ostracized by society. To conceal their identities and protect their standing, they wore hoods and masks when carrying out executions. Films like Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End famously show this, casting fully hooded executioners. On rare occasions, lethal injection executioners still wear hoods when conducting an execution.
For decades, U.S. states have implemented curtains in execution chambers that cover the faces of executioners. Those present at the executions cannot see or hear them. All states also sanction an executioner’s complete anonymity from the general public – their protocols state that the identities of those persons are confidential and are not subject to disclosure.
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Execution by firing squad inherently offers the executioner anonymity. Since multiple people fire at the same time, the person who made the “kill shot” cannot be determined. Some states go further, however, by giving at least one shooter a blank instead of a bullet.
States like West Virginia have – or once had – more than one switch to enact electrocution. They employ two or three people to pull separate switches at the same time, only one switch actually activating the electric chair.
And in other states, lethal injection executions have teams of several people who all inject drugs into IV tubes. Only one person is given the true lethal injection; the others inject non-fatal drugs into dummy bags.
All these executions are conducted to allow each person deniability, the ability to reassure themself that they had not personally initiated the death, so that none can call themself “an executioner.”
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The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines an executioner as someone who puts to death. Through the steps of capital punishment, there are many people who move the process along.
First, a jury must decide (usually unanimously) to sentence the convicted person to execution. Second, a judge must confirm that sentence. Third, the appeals process (if taken) repeats the prior steps as many times as a case is appealed. Fourth, the state governor must sign the death warrant. Fifth, the prison warden must appoint an executioner to carry out the sentence. And finally, an executioner must execute. In cases like the aforementioned, more than one person positions to execute, but only one person actually puts to death.
So what defines an executioner? Is it the final performative act of pulling a lever or injecting a vein? Is it the first decision to sentence a person to death? Is it the official signature on the death warrant? Is it the actual killing of the person?
More succinctly: (1) Is every person hired to execute – who pulls a lever to electrocute or fires a gun in a lineup – an executioner, or should only the person who commits the execution have that title? (2) If the former, are the jury, judge, governor, and warden also executioners?
Executions are described in passive terms. The media say “[The convict] was executed.” They do not say “[The executioner] executed [the convict].”
The death penalty is discussed in a way that excludes the executioner. There is an implication that it simply happens – without any person or party enacting it.
But somebody does pull the lever, the trigger, the syringe. And in many cases, they don’t even know if they’ve themself committed the act.
The jury, judge, governor, and warden know their parts. The person knows that they volunteered to participate in the execution. Should they know if they’ve, in fact, done it?
Is it important they know? Or unnecessarily cruel?
Or is that the point?
April 29, 2023
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A prison cell is seen through a locked door window in the former Lorton Reformatory Prison.
A bail bonding business sign is crumbling in Hanover, Virginia. When visited,
the business was not open and no cars were parked at the building.
DeSantis Passes Lowest Capital
Sentencing Requirement
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Florida juries no longer require a unanimous vote to recommend capital punishment. On April 20, 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law stating that if eight jurors in a 12-person jury support a death penalty conviction, it must be the jury’s recommended sentence.
Of the 23 states that retain capital punishment, 21 require all jurors to approve a death sentence. One state – Alabama – requires 10 jurors of 12 to recommend it. Florida, with a minimum of eight jurors, now has the lowest threshold for death penalty sentencing in the U.S.
This bill is widely considered Governor DeSantis’s response to a recent verdict. Nikolas Cruz, 19-year-old perpetrator in the Stoneman Douglas shooting, was sentenced on November 2, 2022 to life in prison without parole. Nine jurors voted to sentence Cruz to execution, but three voted against it; since Florida then required unanimity to sentence death, the three votes spared his life.
Cruz perpetrated the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history, killing 17 people. Six months after his verdict, Governor DeSantis passed a law that would’ve sent Cruz to death row if it had been in place during his trial. After signing the bill into law, DeSantis said: "I'm proud to sign legislation that will prevent families from having to endure what the Parkland families have and ensure proper justice will be served in the state of Florida."
Florida currently has the largest population on death row of any state at 323 people. The second-largest, Texas at 199, is 62% fewer.
Florida also has the highest number of exonerations from death row: 30. The second-most, again Texas at 16, is 53% fewer.
And of the 50 states, Florida is in a three-way tie for fourth-most botched executions (five) since 1976.
Two Floridians have been executed in 2023. Both of their last words were directed at their state system, which is an uncommon choice.
Louis Gaskin, executed April 12, said: “Justice is not about the crime ... It's not about the criminal. It's about the law. Look at my case.”
Donald Dillbeck, executed February 23, spoke directly about Governor DeSantis: “I really messed up, but I know Ron DeSantis has done a lot worse. He’s taken a lot from a lot of people. I speak for all men, women and children. He’s put his foot on our necks. Ron DeSantis and other people like him can suck our dicks.”
Another man – Darryl Barwick – is scheduled to be executed in Florida on May 3rd.
Governor DeSantis is expected to approve a second bill that was passed by lawmakers on Tuesday. The bill would make non-homicidal sexual battery of a child under 12 years old a capital offense, i.e., punishable by death.
The last execution for the rape of a child was carried out in Missouri in 1964. In 2008, Kennedy v. Louisiana decided in a 5-4 decision that non-homicidal child rape was not a capital crime.
"Once a defendant in a capital case is found guilty by a unanimous jury, one juror should not be able to veto a capital sentence,” Governor DeSantis said.
April 23, 2023
Five people share their opinions on the death penalty.
Greenery and flowers grow between the cracks in an abandoned building at the former Lorton Reformatory Prison.
Death Penalty: Public Opinion
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Five individual interviews on capital punishment were conducted with Northern Virginians. They are, in chronological order of the left video: Nathan Brown, 71; Karina Delgado, 20; Thomas “Mac” Mackenzie, 52; Pat Clark, 68; and Brandon Wood, 23. On many issues, these people – otherwise unconnected – shared similar thoughts and feelings.
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Karina, Mac, and Brandon support the death penalty; Pat straddles the line between support and opposition; and Nathan opposes.
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The three major arguments for the death penalty are its abilities to (1) deter crime, (2) appease the victims’ families, and (3) preserve the moral order.
A study by the UMN found that 2.5% of victims reported achieving closure as a result of capital punishment, whereas 20.1% felt that the executions did not help them heal.
When told that the murder rates in states with the death penalty are significantly higher than in states without, the interviewees expressed surprise but were otherwise mostly unreactive.
Mac said, “It’s more about appeals to emotion rather than, like, appealing to a price tag or a percentile of some kind.”
The major arguments against the death penalty are the (1) cost, (2) possibility of innocence, and (3) morality.
When told that a capital punishment case costs significantly more than a prison inmate, most interviewees expressed ambivalence.
Nathan said, “We spend whatever we have to spend to make sure that we are making the right decision.”
And upon hearing that an estimated 4% of death row inmates are innocent, they were again mostly unreactive.
Aside from one response (said with laughter), the interviewees didn’t indicate that these statistics – which are considered the major arguments – swayed their feelings on capital punishment.
Their support or opposition seemed hugely, if not entirely, based on what they feel is the correct moral decision.
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According to a Stanford study, at least 90% of human decisions are rooted in emotion.
A Yale study found that when a person makes a feeling-based – over logic-based – decision, they (a) experience less regret, (b) demonstrate more perseverance, and (c) are overall more protective and committed to that choice. The study highlights intuition and trusting your gut as a subset of emotional decision-making.
Decisions based on morals are similarly deep-set. When making them, people believe they are “the right choices” – and therefore the only choices – and consequently wouldn’t regret or reconsider unless their values change.
Fear of death – thanatophobia – is considered one of the most common human phobias. It is even more common among animals, who are hardwired to fear their own deaths.
The question of the death penalty is the question of the value of human lives, whether some people – and who – deserve to die or live.
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When considering capital punishment, people often picture themselves in the position of the convicted – lying on a gurney, standing against a firing wall, sitting in an oak chair. They imagine they committed a heinous crime and wonder if they would deserve to die. They try to imagine how they would feel.
Opinion on the death penalty is, as the interviews show, a personal decision. It is based on a person's emotional gut feeling of what rings true.
May 3, 2023